Chapter 84

Purple-black decaying tentacles tore through the churning starlight bands, rushing toward him with a scent of destruction! The mouth-like tips split open, spewing thick, foul-smelling purple-black energy beams that instantly corrupted and dimmed the pure starlight they passed through!

Lin Mo was at a critical moment, locked in fierce combat with the mark inside his body; faced with this lethal attack, there was no escape!

“Thorn—Barricade!”

At the brink of life and death, he unleashed all his will! He stopped suppressing the mark on his right arm and instead forcibly guided, fused, and channeled the bound, violent decaying force—mixed with the blue glow of the Anchor of Order, the protective conviction of the Thorn Will, and the faint order energy drawn from the starlight vortex below—into a never-before-seen torrent of chaotic, destructive energy, slamming it into the propulsion pack beneath his feet!

BOOM—!!!

The propulsion pack’s nozzles instantly overloaded, erupting in blinding, ferocious flames of dark gold, orange-red, deep blue, and a hint of dark purple! The massive recoil hurled Lin Mo backward like a cannonball, barely avoiding the concentrated fire of several energy beams! The residual beams scraped against the Thornsteel armor, screeching with a corrosive sound and leaving deep charred marks!

“Wrench! Jam it!” Lin Mo roared as he rolled, forcibly stabilizing his stance and drawing the “Earthvein Arbiter” from his back! The hilt emblem flashed wildly with four colors, chaotic and violent power gathering along the blade!

Wrench had been terrified out of his wits, but survival instinct overrode everything. He frantically slammed the largest red button on the side of the probe case: “Eat my ‘Chaos Noise’!”

WOOO—!!!

A distortion wave, far more twisted and chaotic than the one inside the Upside-Down Ark, laced with Thornsteel energy and starlight particle interference, struck like an invisible hammer against the few tentacles chasing Lin Mo!

ZZZZ!

The purple-black energy field on the tentacles’ surfaces surged violently, flickering like a bad signal! The pursuit motion paused for an instant!

That instant!

“Break—now!”

Lin Mo’s eyes blazed with lethal light! He poured every ounce of that chaotic, violent energy into the battle blade, abandoning refined sword techniques entirely—he swung with the most primal, brutal force, unleashing a condensed energy slash of intertwined dark gold and dark purple, saturated with the will to destroy!

SSCHHH—!!!

The energy slash cut through the tentacles’ sluggish energy nodes like a red-hot knife through butter! Purple-black pus mixed with shattered, withered crystal erupted in a geyser! The resilient decaying tentacles were cleanly severed by a large segment! The severed ends burned with chaotic energy flames!

“ROAR—!!!”

From the depths of the void came the silent, agonized, furious roar of the Rotclaw! Other tendrils coiled around the Ark’s wreckage thrashed wildly, more tentacles surged forth like venomous serpents! Simultaneously, the massive starlight vortex seemed disturbed—its rotation grew chaotic, and the pure order energy fluctuated violently!

“Boss! The vortex core! The purest starlight! The Rotclaw’s roots are polluting it! We’ve got to break it!” Wrench shrieked; his probes detected a drastic shift in the core’s energy signature.

Lin Mo sensed it too. Within the vortex core’s milky-white radiance, threads of filthy purple-black were being forcibly injected—like ink dropped into clear water. If the core was fully corrupted, not only would the pure starlight vanish, but the Rotclaw’s power would surge terrifyingly!

He could not let it succeed!

Lin Mo manipulated his propulsion pack and charged toward the massive starlight vortex like a moth diving into flames, braving countless tentacle intercepts and the Rotclaw’s crushing mental pressure! The Thorn Will channeled the violent space turbulence below, forming invisible thrusts that accelerated him!

“Thorn—Roots! Domain Unleashed!”

ZZZZ!

This time, the Thorn roots did not burst from the ground—they extended and manifested directly from the battle blade in Lin Mo’s hand! Countless energy roots, coated in starlight crystals and shimmering with dark gold and emerald glimmers, erupted around him like a wild thorn forest! The roots ignored spatial barriers—some lashed out and entangled the pursuing decaying tentacles, while others, like ravenous roots, plunged deep into the vortex’s edge, greedily absorbing pure order energy to replenish their own consumption!

With starlight energy replenishing them, the Thorn root domain’s power surged! Though still constantly corroded and torn by the decaying tentacles, their regeneration speed far exceeded before! Lin Mo rode a moving sea of Thorn-starlight, dashing and weaving through the tentacle assault, inching closer to the vortex core!

“Wrench! Cover me! Attack those rooted tendrils!” Lin Mo roared over the comm.

Wrench immediately redirected the probe case’s remaining energy to several small emitters, firing concentrated orange-red beams laced with Thornsteel particles—precisely striking the connection points where the Rotclaw roots latched onto the Ark’s wreckage and plunged into the vortex! Though insufficient to destroy the roots, the interference was significant, slowing the pollution rate.

Finally, Lin Mo broke through the Cengcengzujie and surged into the core region of the starlight vortex! Before him lay an overwhelming milky-white glow of pure order energy—and the several massive roots, like giant blood vessels, frantically sucking starlight and pumping in purple-black corruption!

The Rotclaw clearly sensed the lethal threat! The mental pressure in the core region spiked to its peak! Countless tiny needles, forged from pure decaying energy, shot out like a storm of black needles from the milky-white radiance, filling every possible escape path! Simultaneously, the main roots swelled violently, their mouth-like openings widening, spewing forth condensed beams of decaying deathlight capable of piercing starship armor!

No escape! Lin Mo’s eyes flashed with madness! He maxed out the propulsion pack’s power, charging straight into the deathlight and needle storm, driving the “Earthvein Arbiter” straight into the convergence point of the main roots! The four-colored emblem on the hilt—especially the earth-yellow of the Thorn Will and the newly integrated starlight white—burned to its limit!

“In the name of Thorn! Protect! Purify!”

Just as the blade’s tip neared the Rotclaw’s main roots—

In a cold observation station hidden by folded space, far from the battlefield, the Doctor stood motionless before a massive circular screen. On it, Lin Mo’s defiant charge and his imminent collision with the Rotclaw’s main roots were displayed with crystal clarity. Streams of data cascaded across smaller screens beside it.

【Target Individual (Lin Mo) Energy Fusion Ratio: Abnormally Elevated (Thorn Will + Anchor of Order + Decaying Mark Fragment + Starlight Energy)】

【Energy Conflict Index: 97.8%… Approaching Critical Threshold】

【Rotclaw (Annihilation Unit) Pollution Output Power: Peak (Starlight Conversion Rate: 32.7%)】

【Ark No.7 Wreckage (Core Compartment) Structural Integrity: 41.3%… Continuously Declining…】

【Annihilation Seed Activation Status: Standby (Energy Fill: 99.1%)】

The Doctor’s icy fingertip hovered above a deep blue button labeled 【Force Detonate “Annihilation Seed”】. His lenses reflected Lin Mo’s determined charge—and the chaotic, flickering, near-uncontrollable four-colored glow on the hilt emblem behind him.

“Struggle… fuse… let me see… the final product of the ‘Key’ colliding with the ‘Vessel’…” he whispered, his fingertip one micrometer from the button.